Fairfield American Opens New England Regional With Win

BRISTOL — Fairfield American continued its successful summer, defeating Williston (Vt.) 9-4 in the opening game of pool play in the New England regional tournament at the Giamatti Little League Center.

"Every game is important, but Game 1, you have to get the win," Fairfield American manager Mike Steed said.

Fairfield (13-1), the Connecticut champion, took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning and held off Williston the rest of the way. With one out, Brian Howell, who was 2-for-3, hit an RBI double. Vince Camera, who was 2-for-2 with two RBI, followed with an RBI single. Two batters later, Jack Steed hit an RBI double to score Camera.

Left fielder Trey Hensel hit his first home run of the summer, a solo shot over the wall in right-center field to give Fairfield a four-run lead in the bottom of the second inning.

"That was just lucky to get such a good pitch there and just barrel it up," Hensel said.

Said Steed: "I told him rounding third base to smile."

Williston got on the board in the third. Jonah Roberts hit an RBI triple and scored on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to two, but Fairfield answered in the fourth with four runs, starting with Jamie Flink's one-out RBI double. Later in the inning, Steed walked with the bases loaded and P.J. Egan hit a two-run single.

"We were confident and we knew our team could put together some runs," Howell said.

Williston brought the tying run to home plate in the top of the fifth inning. With one out and the bases loaded, Howell, pitching in relief, retired the two batters he faced. Howell struck out Jacob Boliba looking and forced Ryan Eaton to line out to center fielder John Reynolds, who made a "snow-cone" catch, to end the threat.

"Johnny is an outstanding outfielder," Howell said.

Fairfield extended the lead to five runs in the fifth on Vince Camera's RBI single. Howell pitched a scoreless sixth to close out the game. Egan pitched 2 2/3 innings of two-run ball to earn the win, while Sam Davenport struck out four in 1 2/3 innings of relief. Storm Rushford took the loss for Williston.

Fairfield American continues pool play against Falmouth (Maine) at 8 p.m. Saturday. Falmouth (10-2) defeated Goffstown (N.H.) 3-2 in the first game of the New England regional on Friday. Albany (N.Y.) beat Northwest Washington (D.C.) 6-3 in the Mid-Atlantic opener.